CHARACTERIZATION OF MOUSE CD37 - CDNA AND GENOMIC CLONING

The leukocyte surface antigen CD37 is a member of the transmembrane 4 superfamily (TM4SF) of glycoproteins which are predicted to span the l ipid bilayer four times. The protein sequence and gene structure of mo use CD37 (Cd37) have been deduced through the isolation of cDNA and ge nomic clones. The Cd37 gene produces a major mRNA transcript of 1.2 kb that is restricted to cells of lymphoid and myeloid origin. Mouse CD3 7 is. glycoprotein of 281 amino acids in length, encoded by eight exon s that span approximately 5.2 kb. CD37 is highly conserved between spe cies, the mouse sequence sharing amino acid identities of 98% and 79% with rat and human, respectively. Cd37 shows a striking similarity in genomic organisation to other members of the TM4SF, which is consisten t with the theory that this superfamily has evolved by gene duplicatio n and divergence from a common ancestral gene. Copyright (C) 1996 Else vier Science Ltd